the_unusual_suspects_seriesfandomcom-20200214-history
Catherine "Cat" Polizzi
Catherine Rose Polizzi, otherwise known as "Cat", is the second main narrator and protagonist of the "Unusual Suspects" series. Cat is a junior at the prestigious art school, Washington Arts Academy, and is majoring in Creative Writing. She is the "new girl" on Constitution Avenue, and is struggling to find herself in the beginning of the novel. She is known for her devout Catholic identity, sweetheart personality that borderlines on neuroticism, and adorable innocence. Cat is best friends with Skye McDaniel, Jersey Montana, and the other Unusual Suspects. Early Life Cat was born and raised in a historic, affluent neighborhood in Salem, Massachusetts. Her large white house was surrounded by open fields and old forests, which fostered her inspiration for writing at a very young age. Even at a very young age, Cat was always different. She attended a conservative, all-girls Catholic school where she was bullied every day for being "odd". Instead of going to sleepovers and being girly, Cat preferred to be alone with a journal and be more of a tomboy. This plays a huge role in Cat's defining insecurities and self-doubts later in her teenage years. Cat has a very unstable relationship with her superficial and controlling mother, Donna, who is the root of much of Cat's insecurities. Cat also has a strong, positive relationship with her loving, overbearing, and more accepting father, "Big Daddy". As a child, she often felt overshadowed by her younger brother Pauly, who was the "more ideal" child. Growing up, Cat never had many friends, preferring the company of fictional characters over a normal social life. In her preteen and teen years, Cat is more self-aware of her differences. She feels like a fish out of water at her strict Catholic school, where looking pretty and being on the softball team mean everything. She feels inadequate in the modest but fancy, colorful dresses and pearls her mother forced her to wear. Basically, Cat is beginning to wonder who she really is but is struggling to find her identity--she is lost in a skin that doesn't feel like her own. Also her daily abuse at the hands of the other, more popular girls worsens throughout high school. Her internal and external insecurities clash, and as a result she grows depressed, develops eating disorders, and begins to self-harm. She becomes absorbed by her stories and poetry, which grow darker and more real. It isn't until the end of her sophomore year, after winning her fifth national poetry award, that Cat's world begins to brighten up with the acceptance letter and full scholarship package to Washington Arts Academy in DC. Physical Appearance Cat is tall and slender, with a small chest but classic Rennaissance-style hips. She has long, wavy, raven-dark hair with big, bright hazel-green doe eyes and a heart-shaped innocent face. She's Italian, but has unusually pale skin. She doesn't wear much makeup besides dark eyeliner, but during her style evolution throughout the series she is notably known for her fetishes with edgy black, immaculate white lace, and stud- or cross-adorned ensembles. Towards the end of the series, Cat fulfills some lifelong wishes and gets a butterfly tattoo and a couple of piercings. Plotlines In the first novel, The Unusual Suspects, Cat Polizzi is the new girl at the elite art school, Washington Arts Academy, where she hopes to start fresh and find herself. After moving in to Newbauma Hall on her first day, she meets her roommate Linzay, a celloist and Classical Music major, who tells Cat that her previous roommate Christine Bradshaw was expelled last year for smoking pot on campus. Linzay offers to take Cat to the first wild dorm party of the year that night and Cat accepts the invitation. There, she meets Linzay's two friends Cassidy Love and Jinx Shackleton, the "Band Sluts", and has her first encounter with the "loud, wild artsy kids" that make Washington Arts the colorful and coffee-scented Wonderland that it is. Cat begins to not feel alone anymore. Maybe she could pass her newfound happiness to her cynical lab partner in the GEC AP Bio class, the dahk and mysterious Shadow Greyson, with his piercingly icy blue eyes and rebellious attitude towards everything. In Don't Hate Me Because I'm Unusual, Cat's new friendship with Shadow is already on edge after avoiding him because of her conflicted feelings. Too bad the time for avoidance is up--they've been paired up to perform a song for their Independent Project. Will they call a truce before Cat smashes his guitar over his head in frustuation? In ''When In Rome, Do As The Suspects Do, ''all Cat wants in Italy is limitless pasta and the attention of Shadow Greyson. Unfortunately. he is too distracted by his weird new roomate to notice Cat's newfound badassness. Will the ploy to get Shadow go too far when Band Slut Cassidy lets the claws out? In ''All's Unusual in Love and War, ''Cat finally got what she's wanted the most since starting her first semester at WashArts--fabulous, her true identity, and Shadow Greyson's icy blue eyes. Will Cat be able to stay true to herself when the Band Sluts declare World War Three?